Carmellini Pursues 264 Elizabeth, McNally Locks Down 282 Bowery

Last we heard from former A Voce chef Andrew Carmellini, he was planning to open a small rustic-Italian pasta restaurant, but didn’t have a location. Eater thinks he’s found one: A community-board agenda has him applying for a liquor license at 264 Elizabeth Street, which housed the Tasting Room until Colin Alevras unexpectedly took his show on the road (per the magazine’s Fall Preview, Alevras is embarking on two new projects with Lesly Bernard of Tillman’s). This puts a little extra pressure on the new guys directly across the street at Elizabeth, which gets the Bruni treatment tomorrow. Rents aren’t cheap in these parts — in fact, we hear that a certain gastropub in the neighborhood, which opened just this summer after a chic renovation, is already up for sale. Carmellini, of course, is in a league of his own, and is clearly in good company with Boulud and McNally doing projects nearby (McNally, by the way, has officially signed the lease on 282 Bowery).